Search Results

IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon has reacted sharply to calls by settler leader Pinhas Wallerstein and others to resist the Gaza withdrawal and for IDF soldiers to disobey orders for the evacuation. Attorney-General Menachem Mazzuz has ordered an enquiry into whether Wallerstein should be indicted for calling on settlers to resist the withdrawal without violence and be ready to go to prison if need be. In a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, General Yaalon said the IDF Advocate-General conducts an enquiry into every case where an innocent Palestinian has been hit by IDF gunfire and the report reaches his desk. At the briefing, a senior IDF intelligence officer revealed that sixty percent fewer Israelis have been killed by Palestinian suicide bombers this year.

After a week or so of wrangling, the ruling Likud party and Labor from the opposition have apparently wrapped up a new national unity government to carry out a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and 4 West Bank settlements. However, at the same time that Sharon was building a cabinet to approve the evacuation, the Palestinian terrorists were escalating their attacks. The IDF hit back, launching an operation into the Khan Yunis area. Despite the Palestinian escalation, Prime Minister Sharon called on the Palestinians to take advantage of the ‘great opportunity’ for peace after the death of Yasser Arafat. U.S. President George Bush repeated that Israeli-Palestinian peace was at the top of his agenda; however, Syria’s President Bashar Assad would have to get in the waiting line.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presented an optimistic forecast for the year 2005. Addressing the Herzliya Conference, Sharon pledged to work for peace with the Palestinians spoke of peace with the Palestinians. In his first major address since the death of Yasser Arafat, the Prime Minister said it was possible for an Israeli and a Palestinian state to live in peace. However, a new and responsible Palestinian leadership must eliminate terrorism and incitement.

IsraCast reported the IDF would have to ‘pull out all the stops and find a high-tech solution for detecting underground tunnels, after the Dec.12th explosion killed five Israeli soldiers and wounded six others in the Gaza Strip.In an exclusive interview with David Essing, Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim reveals that the IDF is on the brink of developing an effective counter-measure.Boim also says although the IDF will react to the current upsurge in Palestinian terrorism, the Palestinian election is also a factor. For her part, Israel is doing everything necessary to help ensure a free and fair ballot on January 9th. The IDF is going all out to find a counter-measure for detecting explosives tunnels, like the one that blew up the JVT position in the Gaza Strip. Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim analyzes the new situation.

In the Gaza Strip, five IDF soldiers were killed and another six were injured, one critically, when Palestinian terrorists tunneled under an Israeli position and detonated more than a ton of explosives. The blast totally demolished the post which was manned by Israeli Muslim Bedouins who serve in the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz held urgent consultations with the IDF Chief of Staff and Shabak Security Director and then ordered a series of localized retaliatory actions. For the first time since Arafat’s death, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has criticized the Palestinian leadership for not doing enough to halt the violence.At the same time, Analyst David Essing believes the latest tunnel attack will spur the IDF into finding a high-tech solution to the Palestinian use of tunneling as a tactic of warfare.

Explosive tunnels - a new and deadly tactic in Palestinian warfare against the IDF in the Gaza Strip.IDF military planners will now be forced to speed up a high-tech counter-measure to uncover tunnels packed by explosives which can be detonated under Israeli military positions or civilian sites.

After his decisive victory at the Likud convention, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lost no time in inviting Labor, Shas and United Torah Judaism to join a new government coalition. The dramatic vote reversed an earlier decision three months ago, giving Sharon a 62-38% win. Although Likud cabinet minister Ehud Olmert says the inclusion of Labor will mean the Gaza withdrawal is now ‘in the bag’, MK Zvi Hendel of the National Union warns that Sharon’s brutal withdrawal tactics may trigger a civil war. David Essing has this analysis of what is being as an historic milestone in the country’s history:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has won back his Likud party and apparently a new coalition. The door is now wide open, for Sharon to carry out a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.

Throughout the region, the talk today is about the prospect the Middle East may be on the brink of compromise and peace, instead of embroiled in bloodshed and terrorism. The flurry of optimism has been triggered by Egypt’s dramatic release of the Israeli Druze citizen Azam Azam. But there are other moves afoot and David Essing has this analysis of why and where things may be headed.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz says Israel and the Palestinians may now be on the eve on a new and positive era. Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Mofaz spoke of new opportunities but he also warned that Iran and Hizballah may heat up the northern border in an effort to sabotage a peaceful dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians. In the south, the Defense Minister sees an important strategic relationship developing between Israel and Egypt.

The government crisis has deepened over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s moves to pass the new state budget. After two far right parties bolted the coalition in protest over Sharon’s ‘Gaza+4’ withdrawal plan in Knesset, Sharon has made a budget payoff to the ultra-orthodox United Torah Judaism Party and possibly the NRP for their support in passing the budget this Wednesday. However, in response, the coalition party Shinui warns it will now vote against the budget; if it does Sharon will fire Shinui from the coalition. The government crisis worsens day by day.

Time may be running out for Prime Minister Sharon. The opposition Labor party, headed by Shimon Peres has now decided to table a no-confidence over the government’s economic policy in light of statistics indicating that more Israelis are now living in poverty. So, will Sharon be able to survive in his uphill battle to muster a parliamentary majority to implement his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements. But this is only one of the Prime Minister’s headaches these days; Shinui leader Tommy Lapid threatens to bolt the coalition if Sharon makes a political payoff to an ultra- orthodox party for supporting the new draft budget.

The outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell paid a farewell visit to Jerusalem where he and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were said to have had an emotional meeting. Sharon spelled out his approach to the new situation in the post Arafat era; whereas Powell reportedly said that Washington would continue her close ties with Jerusalem.

One week after Yasser Arafat’s death , all the signs are indicating that a new ball game has begun for Israelis and Palestinians. And the run up to the Palestinian elections scheduled for January will set the stage for what will follow.

Mahmoud Abbas, widely touted as Yasser Arafat’s successor, sparked machine gun fire when he paid a condolence call at the Arafat ‘mourning tent’ in Gaza. Two of bodyguards were shot dead, apparently as a warning to Abbas who is considered to be a moderate opposed to the Palestinian terrorism. Meanwhile, out in the Mediterranean, there was some excitement of another kind.

Muhmoud Abbas, widely touted as Yasser Arafat’s successor, sparked machine gun fire when he paid a condolence call at the Arafat ‘mourning tent’ in Gaza. Two of bodyguards were shot dead, apparently as a warning to Abbas who is considered to be a moderate opposed to the Palestinian terrorism. Meanwhile, out in the Mediterranean, there was some excitement of another kind.

An estimated 200,000 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square at the site where the former Prime Minister was assassinated on November 4th 1995. Among those attending was former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, U. S. Senator Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea. The U.S. President and the Israeli Prime Minister had become very close friends and Clinton, with tears in his eyes at times, spoke movingly about Rabin and the ultimate price he paid in his heroic quest for peace with the Palestinians.

The official news that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will not be taken off his life-support system was taken in stride by Israel. When Arafat was flown to Paris in serious condition last week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed his cabinet ministers to clam up, in light of the delicate situation. Jerusalem has been in a ‘wait and see’ mode - not wanting to be accused of intervening in the Palestinians’ internal affairs. The IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon did refer to what he called a new Middle East crossroad when he briefed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has now entered a new historic juncture. Three roads now intersect; optimists hope it will lead from the current battleground to a new and different landscape; the pessimists feel it will be more of the same.

Israeli officials say they are not surprised by the latest suicide bombing in Tel Aviv despite the fact that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been hospitalized in Paris. Three Israelis, two women and a man were murdered when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up his explosives in the crowded open air Carmel market of Tel Aviv. More than 30 others were injured, some of them seriously. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made clear that he holds Palestinian leaders responsible. At a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a senior IDF Intelligence officer spoke of the terrorism continuing despite Arafat’s absence. Although Israel has a lot of details, it is not enough for a diagnosis of the Palestinian leader’s condition.